Illusions
by AzureLokio
Summary: Damon receives an unexpected guest and she needs his help...


Dear diary,

This is what happened when I finally returned to him.

It was early morning when I arrived and there were people on the third floor, or to be more accurate there were five humans, another vampire and Damon. And there was an open window.I jumped for that window and landed neatly on the sill and promptly fell into the room unconscious.  
"Typical!" I thought as I felt strong arms lifting me up, "I would have made a better entrance by crawling in and clutching at him!"

I forced my eyelids open and found…Bright green eyes searching my face? Panic and shock tore through me; making me gasp and stare…I'd never seen eyes so vivid and insightful.But I grabbed instinctively at him, as I felt myself being torn from his arms. The new arms that were gripped around my waist and under my knees were very strong and persuasive, and to be honest the green eyed stranger really wasn't doing much to help. I glared at him as I was pulled away and saw hurt and surprise mixed together in his summer oak green eyes.

I felt my feet touch the floor and turned my head towards my captor, who held my shoulders. And I threw myself around Damon! "Hungry, so hungry…But. Staked..!", as I said this I grabbed Damon's hand from my back and slipped it under my dress, onto my left breast where the half treated stake wound defiled me. Then I pulled back to look at Damon properly for the first time in two hundred and fifty years; his deep fathomless black eyes burned and widened, as his hand brushed the wound and his soft, pale pink lips went tight with anger. I hardly noticed this though as, as I had pulled back, I had been dazzled by the rainbow lights playing on his straight, black ebony hair. I was just idly raising a hand from his shoulder to stroke that shining darkness, when Damon suddenly turned, sending my focus into a spinning chaos. I pitched forward from his movement causing my head to give me the sensation that it was splitting in opposite directions. I gasped as waves of nausea rolled upwards, from my stomach, (which was ridiculous! What could be in there?) I groaned, pressing my face into Damon's neck; breathing in his comforting scent.Darkness engulfed me and I went limp against Damon's form.

The peaceful, pain free unconsciousness only lasted a couple of seconds and I started to come back around as I felt my body sink into deep comforting satin softness. I peered through silted eyes around the room, recognising it as Damon's. On my right I could hear clinking and scraping; I shifted my shoulders slightly and saw Damon searching dynamically through a tall wooden casket. I had just decided that it was safe to relax, when I sensed a kind of hovering awkwardness; I glanced annoyingly in its direction and found that Damon's visitors had followed after us. They were having trouble deciding were to stare, but they always came back to me. The green eyed vampire however did not share this and was staring steadily at me," You'll need to feed wont you?" He asked. I sat bolt up right, causing a fresh wave of pain to branch across my body. I gasped in an indrawn breath, "Of course! Or would you and your friends prefer to watch me suffocate!" Also at the mention of feeding, my canines had sharpened and extended the length and strength of my fangs exposed. Damon who had frozen in lifting to stare at me, said slowly" What kind of question is that? And what the HELL, have you been doing? - No just tell me where the others are, can you do that?" Damon srided over to me with a large blue bottle in his hand.

I poked at my fangs, with my tongue horrified and clumped a hand over them as Damon reached me." I haven't been doing anything and I don't know where they are, any of them!" I tried to stare innocently up into his eyes as he tilted my head back, to try to find some truth in my eyes. "You're a lousy liar." He let go of my chin roughly and examined the wound, lightly with warm fingers and I felt indignant with envy," Greedy over-feeding pig!" I mumbled into his face and was rewarded with a dazzling sharp smile as he leaned towards me checking my temperature. He placed his cheek against mine and his arms held me to him. I couldn't stay angry, sighing, I relaxed against him and eased my hands up his chest and slipped them over his shoulders up into his hair.  
"_Do you remember what it was like the first time I had to heal you?"_I did. It had been almost as violent as when I was first staked.  
"Yes, I do." Damon turned sideways, our lips pressed together. I put all my feelings into the kiss; my regret, fear, worry, desire and … love.  
And he responded.

We forgot the audience we had and I finally let myself relax, to let the illusion fade away…Damon held me away from him to watch and I saw myself reflected in his eyes. We both stared at the same thing, but I felt sure that we were seeing different things. My black hair simmered and golden stands streaked through it until they eclipsed the black and my hair fell thick, fine, long, silken, wavy and golden. It curled, spiral-like at the ends, framing my face and falling around my shoulders. My eyes lightened to the colour of the first spring green leaves. My face which had looked listless and shallow, was bathed in an almost golden haze from my hair. All this I saw in his eyes and my eyes moved automatically to watch him mouth 'Gabrielle'. My name. In his eyes I looked a little better, but although giving up on the illusion had helped my Power, I somehow felt unsupported. I was brought back into the room as collective gasps of surprise issued around us. I turned in their direction and laughed… but it hurt. They had their mouths hanging open but they closed them as I laughed, Damon turned me back to him applying pressure gently in my lower back.  
"You're temperature is way too low to even think about getting you healed without feeding , but by the way your trembling…you are too weak to hunt." I stared helplessly into his eyes, because he was right. The strength I'd been clinging on to broke. I collapsed against Damon's chest, my hands slipping out of his hair and straining at his Jumper and I made no effort to stop the tears that had threatened me since I'd reached here.

Damon held me as I cried silently into his chest. He tucked me against him and stroked his fingers through my hair.( I was secretly very proud of myself for not wailing in hurt and anger; it didn't seem fair that I'd managed to come back to him, only so that he had the task of watching me die. Yep, very proud of myself for not doing that!) Damon's fingertips and mouth both found my face at the same time; he kissed my tear-soaked eyelids and stroked my lips. His fingertips _soo _soft…

I was again interrupted by Damon's visitors, projecting feelings of shock, sympathy, disbelief and surprise. I broke our tentative embrace, laying my head against Damon's chin. I stared at them for the first time. They were all so different that they looked odd standing together like that; all in a line. I stared at them individually; at the far end there was a sandy haired young man with mid-azure eyes, next to him a girl with long straight dark hair and equally dark eyes and next to her a boy with sky-blue eyes with an underlying sadness and light shining gold hair, holding his hand was a small girl with tumbling red curls and wide warm brown eyes and her aura pulsated with unfocused Power; a Witch. Next to her stood the other vampire; he had deep green eyes the exact colour of Oak leaves and black wavy hair. Some line of his jaw or maybe the look and colour of his eyes saved him and Damon from being identical. Just. I didn't even have to ask whether he was Damon's brother. I'd get him to confess later. Beside him stood a girl that gave me a strong feeling of dejavu; she had golden blonde hair and eyes exactly the colour of my ring and I glanced down at it for conformation.  
"Tell me their names." I whispered to Damon without turning away from them.  
"Alaric, Meredith, Matt, Bonnie, Stefan, Elena." He nuzzled his cheek against me, murmuring the words into my hair.  
"In that order?"  
"Yes."  
"They suit their names."  
"You think so?"  
"Yes" I was staring at Stefan he seemed to be excited about something. In fact they all did.  
"What are you all jumping about inside for?"  
I frowned at them; I couldn't find anything exciting about this situation, except maybe that I had hold of Damon and the Redhead didn't, I could tell she liked him. They didn't answer me though. All three girls said, "You said his name!"  
I had the sensation that I was floating and wasn't thinking clearly anymore. I frowned at them again in confusion,  
"So? What's so amazing about saying a name? I say people's names all the time!"  
I was inexplicably narked and my vision had multiple grey dots dancing across it.  
"Huh!"

I couldn't breathe; my mouth gasped uselessly at the air around me. My heart throbbed with the heavy ache of the poison running through my veins and my vision faded in and out. I lost consciousness but somehow that didn't dim the pain screaming through my body. I could still feel Damon supporting me.

"Uh, hey Damon I'm getting little woozy here!" Just a little more, come on Gabrielle!" I wish those people would be quieter I was trying to sleep, and I told them so… or I tried to but there was a neck in the way. Mmmm and lovely warm …

I opened my eyes and found soft yellow hair brushing my face. I lifted my hands gingerly and pushed away. I wiped at my lips and started to cough.  
"Thank you."  
"What do you mean, you needed it!" I stared at her; her eyes were so clear yet so …complicated.  
"Yes, but you didn't have to."  
"Yes! She did have to or at lest one of them would have had to." I jumped slightly, I hadn't realised Damon was sitting behind me. He moved my hair away from my face and I turned to see him, "And now that you've fed, we can get that wound taken care of." He lifted me to his brother and Damon got up, disappeared and Stefan lowed me back onto the bed. I stared at him and smiled as a very weak way of saying sorry to him for when he'd picked me up earlier. His whole face lit up as smiled back at me; it made me smile properly. Damon returned, his weight on the bed making me slide towards him, we reached for each other; me reaching for his neck and him wrapping his arms around my waist and slipping me onto his lap. I wrapped my arms about his neck and cuddled against him; I wanted to get closer." Do you feel any stronger?"  
"Not physically, but I can see, I'm awake and at the moment there's no pain, so I guess I am stronger."


End file.
